1. Colin Kaepernick is not saying that HE has been oppressed by the Police. He is saying that Police Oppression does exist.

IT DOES EXIST!

2. He has more moral courage than the majority of his detractors. He has laid his reputation and his career on the line. He has put his ability to earn millions on the line.

3. Civil Disobedience in America has a long and proud history in America. First and foremost, we have Martin Luther King Jr and the Civil Rights Movement. The American Revolution started with Civil Disobedience. The Abolitionists exercised disciplined civil disobedience and took down the institution of slavery in the United States.

4. The Police are the State. They are not your friends. They are not your buddies. They aren’t going to give out lollipops and ice cream and hugs.

The are enforcers of the law. They say this. They repeatedly state that they don’t make the law, they only enforce it. They do so thoughtlessly. They will enforce the most benign laws and the most heinous and malicious legislation without thought. Morality means nothing to them.

There are laws now in America which are immoral. There have always been laws in America which are/were immoral. For instance, the Fugitive Slave Law was once the law of the land in America. Police enforced that law. Currently, we have drug prohibition laws which prohibit parents from saving the lives of their children and from healing their children. Police thoughtlessly enforce those immoral laws.

Police are not your friend. They are an instrument of the State. There is no law so insignificant over which the Police will not enact violence against a Citizen of the United States. They will brutalize, maim and kill to enforce laws. They have done so. They will continue to do so.

Police in America are above the law. They have qualified immunity. the Supreme Court has ruled that Police can lie to you. The Supreme Court has ruled that the Police have no obligation to protect or serve the Citizen. Police can break the law in order to enforce the law. They can rob you on the highways of America thanks to Civil Asset Forfeiture laws.

If you are ignorant of these terms and laws, educate yourself. It is not that difficult.

What Colin Kaepernick is doing is as American as Mom and Apple Pie. It is called Civil Disobedience. He has put more on the line in taking this stance than most Americans will place on the line in their entire lifetimes.

Colin Kaepernick has started a National Conversation on Police Brutality. Talk America and stop hating on your fellow Americans. Listen America, to the sounds of the people making their way through this life.

Lest you forget, it was the Police of Chicago who protected Al Capone and profited handsomely from Alcohol Prohibition. It was the Police in LA who protected and ran gangs on the streets and profited from Drug Prohibition. The NYPD was riddled with corruption brought on by the Drug War in the ’70s.

You think this kind of corruption is a thing of the past?

The Miami Police were just caught protecting and profiting from Drug Prohibition. I guarantee that the Drug War has taken control of the LAPD Headquarters and the NYPD again. It is only a matter of time before the scandal erupts in the public.

Wonder you why the Police are so Pro-Drug Prohibition?

Why would the very people who profit from the War On Drugs wish that war to end?

The War On Drugs is a War on Liberty. Police have near unlimited powers due to drug prohibition. This situation is only being exacerbated by the War On Terror.

America is so fearful that we naively hand our Liberty to the Usurper. He gladly takes it and we are the more endangered for the bargain.

Black Lives Matter as a movement will not be taken seriously until they learn to differentiate between a Blue Thug murdering a Citizen and a Cop killing an armed criminal. Certainly, the Blue Thugs are more prone to killing Black Citizens. Yet, it crushes any credibility of the movement when they demonstrate against a Cop who has shot an actual criminal who actually had a firearm and who actually pointed it at a Cop, refused to drop the weapon or shot at an actual Cop or a Citizen.

When a Blue Thug kills an actual innocent Black person, Black Lives Matter should be out in force. When a Cop shoots an actual criminal, Black Lives Matter should be silent. Until that happens, no one can take them seriously. They’ve become the Al Sharpton of political movements. They have zero credibility.

I would love for this movement to have credibility. This is an important subject. Police Brutality does, I believe, disproportionately affect Black Americans. It does not ONLY affect Black Americans though. Police Brutality affects everyone.

For morons who keep asking about Black on Black crime, yes, this is another important issue. Yet, it is a separate issue.Black on Black crime is Citizen against Citizen. Police Brutality is a State Power issue. When the State assumes the power of life and death and does so with such ease as do Police, we have an issue. A huge issue.

Much of the Black on Black crime that is out there, I believe is created by the War on Drugs. End the War on Drugs and much Black on Black crime within Black Communities will dissipate. Many of the problems within the Black Communities in America have been created by the State.

The lesson that everyone is missing in all of this is that NO LIFE MATTERS to the State. The State uses the Citizens and others as a tax base and to legitimize itself via elections. The State doesn’t care about Black lives or White lives or any lives. It cares only that it continues to exist. Once you realize this, things start to make sense.

Essentially, the Police murdered this girl over less than 2,000USD. That is what your life is worth America. The State does not care about you. It’s not that Black lives do not matter. It is not all lives that matter. It is that NO LIFE MATTERS to the State.

The Average American Citizen holds only the value of his or her worth in taxable income, goods and property. Beyond that, your life does not matter.

When will Americans come to comprehend this basic fact about the State. All States. Yes, even the American State.

“We are so broken as she was just a little girl and we loved her so much. My heart hurts so very much. Such a sad world this is when an innocent child is shot and killed. May God give us peace.”

There will be no such peace from God or any source until the State is brought to heel and made to respect the lives of human beings as more than a simple funding source.

Ciara is the 21st person and the first child to be killed by law enforcement in 2016.

WASHINGTON, DC — Police departments in the US will not hire prospective applicants as officers unless those applicants lack the ability to think logically and compassionately, a former CIA contractor has confirmed.

“There is a policy here in the United States that people of a relatively high IQ are not allowed to become police officers,” said former CIA contractor Steven Kelley in an interview with Press TV.

Evidently if an applicant shows signs of relatively high IQ — with excellent logical analytic abilities and a sense of compassion — that applicant will be weeded out of the hiring process.

The way that the applicants are weeded out is apparently by means of initial testing.

“There is actually a test given to applicants and if they score too high they are not eligible to join law enforcement,” Kelley said.

A man whose bid to become a police officer was rejected after he scored too high on an intelligence test has lost an appeal in his federal lawsuit against the city.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld a lower court’s decision that the city did not discriminate against Robert Jordan because the same standards were applied to everyone who took the test.

The American Police have always been a tool of the affluent. The creation and proliferation of Police Forces have always been at the behest of those with Economic Power.

American Police have never been charged with serving and protecting the Citizen. They have always been a tool of oppression. They serve the interest of the State. The State serves the interests of the Corporate Elite.

Support of the police by the Citizen is a direct contradiction of the Citizen’s own interests. It is tantamount to the slaves of the antebellum South proclaiming support for the Slave Patrols and the Fugitive Slave Act.

Lots of us out here empathize with you. Lots of us have actually sided with you. However, when you decide that directing violence against random White people simply because they are White People is the right and proper thing to do, you lose all of the support and empathy.

Racism is racism. Bigotry is bigotry. These acts are self defeating. These acts are what your enemies want.

The people who did this to you are YOUR community leaders. The person who killed Mike Brown is a Police Officer. Random White Dude walking down the street did not kill Mike Brown. I realize that passions are high. At times such as these, it may seem that it is you against the world. I say to you that it’s not you against the world.

There are Americans out there who agree that there are issues at hand here that need to be resolved. You targeting people who have done you no harm makes any kind of resolution or real conversation impossible. Be rational. Don’t be complete fucking idiots. Think before you act. Stop targeting businesses owned by regular people.

I can’t, for the life of me, understand why you have not staged “sit-ins” and such at your local city, county and State Governments. These are the real oppressors. White dude sitting at a red light is not your enemy. The Police are the enemy. The County Prosecutor is your enemy. The District Attorney is your enemy. The people in your local government are your enemy in this fight. The State Government and the Federal Government are your enemy.

Yes, that includes Barack Obama. I know this is difficult to reconcile but while you are attacking random White guy just because he is random White guy, the Federal Government is militarizing your Local and State Police and making possible, ney making it certain, that your local police will treat you not with the respect of a citizen but with the disdain of an enemy combatant. Barack Obama has done much to further the programs that are militarizing our Nation’s Police Forces.

You can, if you wish, continue to blindly support Obama as he makes your lives harder, oppresses you at the hands of Billionaires and lies that he’s “here for you” and that he’s “surprised and angered” by the situation. However, he’s not. He’s a part of the system that had led you to this moment. Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney and the rest of our politicians stand right there with him against you and against the rest of us.

I know. Barack is Black. It was a proud moment. However, he’s not your friend. Any more than the criminal who steals your last few dollars is your friend. He’s a politician. He’s no different than George W. Bush.

So, stop targeting random White dude who is just as much a pawn of the State as are you. Direct your angst against the Government. Demand change. Real change. March against them.

Join with your fellow pawns (White, Latino, Asian & Arab Citizens) and march against your government. If you allow them to divide you by fomenting racial angst instead of political angst, you are already defeated.

Your government has betrayed you…from the President on down to your local council person.

I’m not saying that race is not AN important issue in the MB shooting.

I’m saying that it is but one issue.

Another important issue is the total lack of police accountability (aka qualified immunity). That’s an important one as well. Police can shoot the wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time for the wrong reasons BUT simply because the Cop felt threatened can get away with murder.

A Cop can literally walk into a Citizens house with intent to take anything he wishes and shoot the owner. The Cop can say that he smelled marijuana giving him probable cause. The Cop can shoot the Citizen who confronts him and claim that he felt threatened…that his life was in danger. The Cop can take a kitchen knife out of the Citizens kitchen drawer and lay it at the side of the Citizen.

This is a plausible scenario.

Cops have and do plant evidence.

Cops have and do enact character assassination.

Cops have and will shoot just about anyone.

Yes, race is an issue. Yes, race is an important issue. However, race is not the only issue.

If they take the rights of all Citizens away by destroying the US Constitution, race won’t matter a wit.

Everyone will be oppressed.

Darren Wilson ultimately shot a teenager for being in the middle of the street.

Brown probably attacked him. Brown may or may not have had his hands up.

How did it come to pass that Brown attacked Officer Wilson? How did Wilson put himself in position to be attacked? How did the situation escalate? Did Officer Wilson aggravate the situation? What did Officer Wilson say or do, if anything, that enraged Mike Brown enough so as to commit what amounts to a suicidal act in America (violent confrontation with Police forces)? These are important questions as well.

I know. I know…I’m racist because I said “Black.” Anyway… Dear Black People, Pls wake the fuck up. It’s the 21st Century. You have to take what you want. You can’t be a victim. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are wrong. Not every Black American who finds success in “White America” or who joins the GOP is an Uncle Tom. The Police are corrupt and have always been corrupt. This corruption affects everyone in America. It does not only affect Black people.

Stop blaming White people. It’s long past due that this is a viable complaint.

I travel the world. Everything that Black people in America complain about has happened to me in the wider world. It’s not a White thing. It’s not an American thing. It’s a human thing.

Get over the race card. Not everything is about racism. Some of it is about what you do or do not do in this world.

Opportunity does not just come to people. People have to seek opportunity.

I work with quite a few Black people who don’t sit back and wait for someone to hand them an opportunity. They go out and make it happen.

Lots of people do this and find successes and failure. The best of us do not blame someone else for our failures. We get up and try again. We do not let failure immobilize us and blame the World or the Man or the Government or our Mommy or our Daddy. We get up and start again.

I get so tired of hearing whining little welps cry about what’s holding them back. Everyone in this world has something holding them back. I come from a family wracked by poverty and alcoholism and abuse. I got out of there and did my own thing. I made it happen for me. I made it happen and am making it happen where I am a minority and where many folks do not like me simply because I am American and White. I’m not whining about it or laying down. I’m making it happen for me and mine.

When Americans start lopping off heads with machetes and/or smashing heads with sledgehammers or shooting Black people simply because they are Black, then I’ll see a real issue. As it is, we have Cops who react violently towards Black people in a Government headed by a Black President with a Black Attorney General.

Perhaps, the problem is more complex than simply White on Black crime. Especially when 90% of crime against Black people is committed by other Black people. But…I know…we don’t want to talk about that. We only want to talk about White on Black crime which is less than 10% of the issue.

The lack of dialogue about Black on Black crime is disturbing and is racist on the part of Black Leadership. Let’s ignore the larger problem and talk about the small issue because it’s easier and there is an easy target. Let’s ignore the elephant in the room because that one is too difficult to solve and we can’t blame that one on some outsider like White folks or “The Man.” All that said, I look forward to seeing Dear White People. Apparently, there are a lot of ignorant White folk out there who haven’t a clue. However, that is America and Americans — Black and White Americans. Most of the idiots who live in America are pretty darned clueless. They’ve never been further than the largest city in their State much less the wider world. Americans need to travel. They need to get out of their little towns and their neighborhoods in their big cities. The world is amazing. It’s also a dangerous, beautiful, deadly, lively, incredible, breath taking place. The world can kill you. It can bring you life. It can give you perspective. Perspective is what most Americans lack.

This is exactly why Americans can feel guilty about events, circumstances and history that is common to the whole of the human race and feel uniquely smug and self satisfied at feeling said guilt. Americans think that America is so unique that their racism is exceptional and that their crimes are special. To many Americans, racism is America’s special shame. They feel this way due to their own ignorance of the wider world. Americans feel exceptional not only in that they feel that America has a special prerogative to dictate to the World but that we feel especially bad about the past and the actions of our ancestors. Americans actually believe that they are unique. The reality is that there is nothing unique about America. This has all been done before by Rome, Britain, the Mongols, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Egyptians, the Sumerians, the Phoenicians (who might well have come from Africa) and a whole host of Empires across the ages. Every good we have done and every evil we have committed is a repetition of earlier Empire…even our special, exceptional arrogance. American Blacks are not special either. Every trial and tribulation through which they have passed and through which they will pass is a repetition. This is the World. This is humanity.

And I find it especially humorous that the racism in America is so horrid, so wretched that one of the greatest complaints that Black Women have is that people touch their hair out of curiosity. Then again, there is the terrifying stereotype about Waffles and Chicken. Though, I have had Black friends since I was 5 years old and am now 45 and have never heard of this nonsense. OH…THE HUMANITY!!! Who do Americans try so hard to be offended by…well, anything. It’s impossible that so many could be so offended by such trivial nonsense. It’s a profession now. We have professional Outrage Commissars who tell Americans exactly when and by how much we should be offended. WOT WOT!!!

In summation…GET OVER YOURSELVES, AMERICA!

These girls are cute. I mean really, really cute. They made me laugh and, better yet, smile. I hope I have daughters who are as intelligent and precocious and beautiful as these two gals.

On March 23, 2005, I lost a good friend. He was a rookie Police Officer. He’d been on the job about a year.

I helped Pete build up the courage to ask out his future wife who is one of my best friends. Pete was a good guy. A moral man who would have been a good Cop. I’m not sure if that would have helped or hindered his career. I would have hoped that he’d have risen through the ranks and tackled the hard questions of Policing in modern day America. I would hope that he’d have done some good and, perhaps, even gone on to bring change and accountability to the Police force of Louisville/Jefferson County, Kentucky.

However, his life was cut short. I would blame this on poor training. Pete wasn’t equipped, yet, to be out there on his own and survive. He wasn’t trained to survive. Like most officers, he was trained to respond and to “shoot first.” However, he wasn’t equipped to deal with a mentally ill 16 year old with a death wish. Because of that, he died. The Louisville Metro Police Department failed Pete massively.

I have an Uncle who is a career Cop. Another Uncle has been a Sheriff of a small locality right outside of Louisville proper.

I’ve spent 3 years in Afghanistan training Afghan National Police forces and working with amazing people who happen to be Police. Some of them decry the State of the Police forces in America. Some of them…well, they are part of the problem.

By no means do I hate Police. What I absolutely abhor is the corruption inherent in our American Police forces.

I was asked by Afghan Police constantly how they could combat the corruption that is rife within their Police Forces. I never had a good answer. Cops who fight corruption die. They are killed by fellow Officers. They are allowed to be placed into dangerous situations that lead to their deaths so as to rid the corrupt Cops of the rat. A good Cop who tries to do something about corruption is ostracized. They’re run off the job. They are bullied. This is American Policing.

I have spent a good deal of time researching American Police. What I have found is rampant corruption and Cops who believe that they are above the law. The problem is that the US Courts have given them qualified immunity. This, in fact, does place them above the law.

This must change or America can not be a nation of laws or a nation of Liberty.

In this video,Levar Edward Jones stopped to get gas on his way home from work. Levar was approached by the Police Officer for no apparently reason. The Cop demanded to see Mr. Jones’ drivers license. When Mr. Jones’ reached into his car to retrieve his wallet, Officer Groubert immediately started firing on him. Mr. Jones presented no threat. The Cop fired 4 (5?) shots. Two shots were clearly fired AFTER the man had placed his hands in the air. AT NO TIME WAS THIS POLICE OFFICER’S LIFE IN DANGER. There was absolutely no reason for this police officer to have believed his life to be in danger. Black people are not inherently dangerous regardless of the obviously cowardly beliefs of this particular cop.

This particular officer, Lance Corporal Sean Groubert, has had 5 complaints against him in the past couple of years. This State Thug was an obvious menace to society. In the 4 Sept incident, Groubert fires 4 times at an innocent citizen for no reason. Directly behind Mr. Jones was a gas pumping station. Groubert is obviously and incompetent buffoon who should have been fired long ago. His actions will cost the tax payers of South Carolina millions of dollars. It could have been far worse. He like other Police endanger society, place innocent lives in danger on a daily basis and cost us valuable resources and many, millions of taxpayer dollars. They also serve to make the public distrust the police and government.

This individual is no longer a Police Officer. He was fired. He has been charged with assault and battery. That is not enough. He should be charged, additionally, with reckless endangerment and attempted murder. I’m surprised that he’s been charged at all as most police are never charged with any crimes for their criminal activities while on duty. Most often, this behavior is swept under the rug as in Ferguson, MO.

These kinds of shootings occur far too often in America today. This is inexcusable behavior for any human being. It is worse that a Police Officer behaves in this manner. Police are, everyday, putting our lives in danger because they are panicky and fearful due to what can only be a lack of training, discipline and professionalism.

A couple of weeks back, Police in Florida fired 377 shots at 2 perps who had just robbed a convenience store (?). By the time the Police caught up with the perps, the two robbers had been home, changed cars and dished their loot and guns. After the police had stopped firing and the dust had settled, there was at least one injured Police Officer and several thousand dollars worth of damaged property (homes shot, cars shot, etc). A 12 year old child had to duck and find cover as the childs house was in the line of fire.

The perps were killed despite being unarmed and, therefore, never having presented a real danger to the Police a the they were unarmed.

These incidents are occurring on nearly a daily basis. Police, who are supposed to serve and protect, have become a menace to society. They present more dangers than they prevent. They carry with them death and destruction and unleash it on society with little care for the lives of innocents or for preserving property and have zero concern for the rights of American citizens.

Much of this is the fault of the courts. The US Courts have made police all but invincible by giving them “qualified immunity.” This immunity has made Police forces collectively and individually above the law. The Police must be subject to the same laws which they are sworn to uphold. If not, we may as well stop calling ourselves a Democracy or a Republic and face the fact that America has become a Police State.

I grew up in a family that honors the police. My grandmother was friends with a Police Captain. My Uncle is a Police Officer. His son is an Security Police Airman in the USAF. Another Uncle was a Sheriff for a small town outside of Louisville, KY. I have a nephew in Law who is in the process of joining the LMPD. One of my best friends is the widow of a Police Officer. A great many friends are Police Officers and I have still more friends who were Military Police in the US Army.

For a great part of my life, I did not question the activities of the Police. Even though I had witnessed some corruption myself in the Army Military Police Corps and had been involved in some idiotic, though not corrupt, interactions with civilian police.

I never questioned.

When something like the Michael Brown shooting occurred, my initial and, usually, lasting reaction was “he deserved it.” When laws were passed that allowed the police to violate the rights of citizens, I thought; “If you don’t have anything to hide…if you aren’t guilty, you’ve nothing to worry about.”

That all changed.

In the past few years, I’ve noticed a slow creep in police attitudes. I’ve noted changes at the airports in America. I’ve noticed changes in the justice system. I’ve noticed a large amount of people being set free from incarceration due to incompetence, negligence or willful corruption of the American Justice System.

This has, to put it mildly, upset me.

I grew up believing that America was the Greatest Nation on Earth. I grew up believing that we were the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

I’ve lost faith in these concepts.

America has the largest prison population in the world. We incarcerate more people than China, Russia, Iran and, it is said, North Korea. This is, to my way of thinking, insane. Many of the people whom we have imprisoned in America are guilty of nothing more than partaking of a weed that grows in nature. Yes, I speak of marijuana. Others are in prison due to various other drugs. This is legislated criminality. This is immoral. We imprison people, violate their person, destroy their spirit because they desire to smoke a plant that can be found in the forest. We raid farms and property and destroy families because people wish to smoke a plant.

This must change.

The War on Crime and the War on Drugs has done more damage to America and to the United States Constitution than the Soviet Union, al Qaeda, Saddam Hussein, ISIS, North Korea and Iran combined.

These pseudo-wars are fully supported by the majority of our police forces. The State lied and continues to lie to this day about drugs and crime. They lie to support the State and centralization of power to the Federal Government.

This must change.

I have written about these issues fairly extensively on this blog. I will not repeat everything that I’ve written in this blog.

I will say only this. The American people need to wake up to these facts of our existence. Our police have become tools of State oppression. The Bill of Rights is being dismantled. Look only to Ferguson to see this. Look past Michael Brown. Look past the looters. Look to the peaceful citizens who assembled and how the State reacted to them. If you can say with a straight face that the Bill of Rights meant anything to the police of Ferguson, you are a better actor than I.

Another issue that I have is with folks who have family who are police. WAKE UP! Yes, you are emotionally invested. Certainly, your family member may not be one of the corrupt State Goons. Your family member or friends may be one of the “good Cops.” It doesn’t matter. If he or she is one of the “good” guys, they have no voice. They follow orders and fall in line or they will be fired, jailed or, worse yet, killed. Just ask Frank Serpico and numerous other Cops who tried to fight the corruption and Statism that prevails in America’s police forces today.

You can be as mad at me as you wish for stating my opinions and shouting my facts as to the State of American Policing and the Federal power grab that has been occurring since Nixon. Fact is, I don’t care about your feelings. I don’t care that you have a good cop as a friend, Uncle, Father, spouse, grandfather or BFF. I care that the American Police Forces and the American “Justice” System is killing innocent people. They are incarcerating innocent people. They are ruining lives.

You can stay huddled up in your little bubble for as long as you like. I care not. Do not expect me to not speak out about what I see as a great injustice and a direct attack on America’s soul.

In order to prevent an armed individual from causing harm to the public, Officer Sanquino discharged his firearm into a public space with civilians in the line of fire subsequently missing FOUR TIMES out of NINE. Kody Roach, the suspect, never fired a shot.

Officer Sanguino endangered the public and caused harm to the public with his reckless actions. Officer Sanquino murdered an innocent woman by firing into a public space without checking to ensure that his shots were well aimed and that there were no innocents in the immediate vicinity.

This death cannot be attributed to or blamed on the “armed individual.” This death is directly caused by Police incompetence and negligence.

This woman lost her life because the police was more interested in saving his own life than in preserving the lives of those around him.

The use of the felony murder charge has long been controversial in such cases, particularly because some have questioned why an unarmed bouncer could remove Rouch but three officers had to fire multiple shots to subdue him. We have previously discussed the sharp statistical difference between officer shootings in this country as opposed to other countries.

Officer Sanguino also caused harm and injury to a fellow officer with his recklessness, negligence and incompetence. Certainly, Roach should be charged for his crimes. However, he did not kill this woman. The negligent Police officer who fired into a crowded area killed the woman. The Police Officer should be charged with Manslaughter at the least.

The amplification of these voices through social media has resonated throughout mainstream media and generated a false narrative about the professionalism of police officers.”

The author tells us to judge police not as a group but as individuals.

First of all, I would hope that people treat individual Police Officers as human beings and respect them as such WHILE keeping a steady and watchful eye on these human beings in their official capacity as Police Officers and servants of the public.

Second, it is impossible to judge the police as an entity except by what we see as the result of their work. The body of work of the American police does not induce a feeling a pride nor do I see professionalism in the American Police Forces.

I have read numerous articles, research papers and books on our American Police Forces. What I have come to see is a pattern of failure. Thousands of SWAT raids per year produce results a mere 30% of the time. SWAT teams raid the wrong locations constantly. They get the wrong address from their CRIMINAL informants or, even worse, they raid, in error, a different house than that which is listed on their arrest/search warrants.

Yes, that is correct. The address on their search warrant might say 201 Westboro Ave and the Police mistakenly raid 207 Westboro Ave.

When they make these mistakes, they destroy property. They injure people in these mistaken raids. They’ve even been known to kill people in these raids. And it’s almost a given that if there is a pet such as a poodle or cockerspaniel in these homes, that pet is as good as murdered.

Mr. Vargas goes ends his opinion piece with this study in hagiography:

Police officers are not collectively a bunch of racist, boot-jacketed thugs and mindless drones. They are a group of extraordinary individuals who have willingly taken on the challenge of policing a society that has serious issues.

Officers didn’t create the socioeconomic environment that gives rise to violence and crime. Rather they are willingly choose to go out everyday and deal with a public that seems to believe they are the bad guys.

While I have no doubt that there exist extraordinary individuals in the police forces across this Nation, I also know that the history of American police forces is rife with corruption, brutality and inhumanity. The examples are legion. From the New York City scandals of the NYPD in the ’70s to the LAPD Rampart scandals of the ’90s. Those are simply two of the most heinous examples. Actually, it seems that the NYPD has, at least, one major scandal per decade. Police were hired by the largest corporations in America in the early 20th Century not to protect and serve the community but to oppress and suppress the American worker. These police forces were union busters. They weren’t serving and protecting the community. They were actively oppressing the community. The Police were active partners of Gangsters such as Al Capone in the Prohibition Era. In the South, the Police were on the front lines of the Jim Crow era oppression of minorities. In our day, we have police raiding barber shops with Machine Guns and Military Gear simply to check licenses. We have constant and consistent examples of police brutality and disregard for basic human rights. Not only that but the Police constantly violate rights guaranteed to Citizens by the United States Constitution.

Speaking to professionalism. The police are trained to actively violate the rights of US Citizens. They are trained to trick us into surrendering our rights voluntarily without our being aware of such. This is police professionalism.

Certainly, policing is a dangerous profession. However, my answer to that is that if one is not willing to take on these risks, one should not become a police officer. Find a profession that doesn’t produce fear so great in you that you feel the need to shoot to kill your fellow citizens. The age of summary justice is ended. The priority of the police should be the safety of the public. How can the police serve the public in this manner if they are a) considered a menace to society by a large and growing portion of the citizenry and b) if they are in actuality a growing menace to society.

The Police do seem willing to go out and “deal with the public” on a daily basis. This is, after all, their job. However, they also seem all too willing to shoot that public in any circumstance whether there exists a genuine threat to their safety or not. And if that threat is shown later to have not existed in reality but only in the mind of the Police Officer, they Police are also extraordinarily willing to engage in public propaganda and character assassination in order to actively obstruct justice for their victims.

This must change. If a Police Officer is found to be guilty of negligence, error, malfeasance or criminality, that officer must immediately be taken off the streets and that officer must be vigorously prosecuted.

Police must stop assuming guilt all around them. This assumption of guilt has proven to cause over-zealousness in the prosecution of victims of the criminal justice system. All too often, we are finding that citizens who have been imprisoned for crimes are innocent of the crimes for which they were prosecuted. In many cases, the police and/or prosecution knew of the existence of evidence that exonerated these innocent citizens. Yet, the police held back the evidence in order to gain a conviction. Any police officer who is guilty of these heinous crimes should be tried and imprisoned. The prosecution should serve sentence right alongside the guilty police officer.

Too often, the Police are guilty of greater criminality than the public at large. Yet, this goes largely unpunished.

It is time for this to change.

Along with the War on Drugs, the Justice System in America serves oftentimes not to ensure the rights of America’s citizens but to deny rights to American citizens. The Police are integral to each of these injustices.

Is it any wonder in this age of instant information that the police are being thrust into the spotlight. Heretofore, they could not be held accountable for their actions. With the ubiquitous cell phone camera and video recorder, the police can no longer hide their actions. This, in my opinion, is a good thing.

I hear apologists for the police state that is becoming America say that if you’ve nothing to hide, you’ve nothing to worry about.

This goes for the America Police as well. If you are innocent, the recording of your actions is nothing to worry about.

Why does the media make such a deal out of White on Black Police Shootings and not the Black on White Police Shootings?

One thing that I notice is that when a White Cop shoots a Black kid. It matters very little to the average Black person that the kid may [or may not] be guilty. There is a presumption of innocence. There is a presumption of brutality. There is the immediate assumption by the Black community that the Police Officer had other means at his disposal to resolve the dispute or to bring that “perp” to Justice.

And notice that I used the abbreviation “perp.” Police seem to like this word. “Perp” is short for perpetrator.

Perpetrator. What are police saying when they use this word. They are saying perpetrator of a crime. When the police call a suspect a “perp,” they are automatically assuming guilt. In many cases, Police arrest innocent citizens whose only crime was being in the general vicinity of a crime and having the same characteristics of the assumed guilty party.

Once one is in the grasp of the police, they automatically assume one’s guilt. YOU are guilty the moment you come into contact with the police.

Back to the issue at hand.

A black person is shot by the police.

1. The police have already concluded the guilt of the person whom they shot. This is a given. Else they’d not have shot that person.

2. The Police have automatically assumed guilt.

3. Black citizens being fully aware of a bias within the police community brought on by decades of media portrayal of Black citizens as dangerous criminals and “gang bangers” as well as political vilification of the Black community by American politicians from Lyndon Johnson to George Herbert Walker Bush to the present day politicians such as Nancy Pelosi and John McCain assume the worst of police motives and competence in the field.

4. American police have a “I deserve to go home to my family at night” mentality which gives them a cowardly shoot first attitude when facing the dangers of their profession.

5. Police are not known for their negotiation skills or for having a professional community relations dynamic. The police in most communities are an occupying force and no longer the neighborhood police who are friends and helpers placed to serve and protect. The “serve and protect” ethic died long ago. Police are now militarized and aloof. They stay in their cars. They do not interact with the community or it is rare to see this dynamic in action.

6. The White population of America automatically label any Black person who has an altercation with the police a “thug.”

With all of that in mind, Black citizens of America know that justice will not be served regardless of the guilt or innocence of the victim of a police shooting. An innocent who is shot will receive no justice. The police will make statements saying all of the right words and phrases to placate the press and the White public of America when they are found to have shot an innocent UNTIL the public loses interest. Once the public loses interest, the police will then forget the victim. In most cases, promises made will go unfulfilled as is happening right now with the toddler who was injured in an incompetent SWAT raid on a house in Georgia.

Black citizens know this. It happens time after time until finally a “Ferguson” explodes in righteous anger. A poor black community explodes, the police respond as if they are storming Fallujah. Peaceful protestors are lumped in with trouble makers, the press is arrested and all rights are suspended while the White Governor, White City Police Chief and other politicians make irresponsible statements and incompetently “deal with the event.”

Ferguson is a study in how NOT to navigate a civil disturbance. The Police automatically went on the defense, pulled out their “battle rattle” and proceeded to go on the offensive. Citizens were called animals and told that they would be killed if they exercised their rights to assemble, free speech and petition. No State, County or City official made any real moves to hear the complaints of the people. Outsiders such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton interfered and intervened exasperating the situation.

Everything that a public official could do wrong was done wrong. Incompetence and unAmerican actions were taken by the State and local governments. The people were treated as if they were criminals. Citizens were maced, gassed, brutalized. The press was maced, gassed and brutalized. Worse, yet, were the police screaming threats as if they were a legion of centurions about to storm a barbarian stronghold.

The Media, of course, saw these events as worthy of covering. Pundits waxed poetic, idiotic, ignorant and wise.

Now, turn to the White kid who was shot by the Black Police Officer.

The Black Police Officer shot a White kid. The community wherein this incident occurred simply assumed guilt on the part of the White Police shooting victim and went back to their day to day business. No White person asked questions. No White person stopped to think that perhaps this kid didn’t deserve to be shot. It was assumed that if the kid was shot, he was guilty of something. No one cared that a White kid was summarily executed by the Police much less that it may have been racially motivated. The only reason that anyone is even discussing this shooting is because of all of the media attention given to Michael Brown and Ferguson.

If the White victim of the Police summary “justice” had been killed at a less voluminous moment concerning police brutality and police militarization, the White community would not have noticed. Add in the fact that he was only half White and that he was half Hispanic and the White Public would assume that he was guilty and wrote him off as a Latino Thug.

However, since he was half White and shot by a Police officer who happened to be Black, this is a good time for the Political Punditry and Puppetry of the Right Wing to juxtapose this victim of police brutality and summary justice against the Media attentions given to the Black victim of police brutality at the hands of a White Police Officer.

Note, though, that the pundits and puppets aren’t speaking to police brutality or police militarization. Ney, they are attempting to use this to downplay race. “See,” they say, “Black Cops kill ‘White’ kids and White folks don’t go crazy. The media doesn’t give it the attention it deserves because it was a Black on White killing.” Never mind police brutality, the shoot first mentality of the American Police or the heavy militarization of the American police brought about by the unconstitutional wars on terror and drugs. Instead, they’re only interested in “I told you so” and “See, racism is all in your mind.”

Puppets and pundits are only interested in downplaying and diverting attention.

And White America is falling for it….AGAIN.

It’s pure brilliance. FOX News is the lead actor here.

The assumption by FOX is that the police acted correctly and that Michael Brown was guilty. This despite the fact that American citizens are supposed to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. They are on the side of the State even as they pretend to be on the side of State’s Rights and the Bill of Rights.

The rest of the media are just as complicit. They divert our attentions away from real issues constantly and consistently by covering idiot issues and non-issues such as missing rich kids in Aruba. They fawn over political actors instead of acting as real journalists.

The media in America, though, has a history of political fawning. Most citizens are unaware of this but the majority of the news organizations in America were started as mouthpieces for the political parties. Yet, we expect them to tell us the truth about events and issues in America.

The media is simply a government mouthpiece. When their preferred party is in power, they are silent on their transgressions. When their preferred party is not in power, they trumpet the transgressions of the other.

We expect the media to be watch dogs. They are not. They are puppets and pundits, liars and scoundrels of the first order. Any journalist who attempts to tell the truth faces the same future as James Foley.

In the meantime, if one is Wealthy in America, one is rarely guilty. Justice in America is not real but purchased. For the poor, it is nearly always out of reach.